Mattress construction



June 30, 1942. D. MICON 2,288,103

MATTRESS CONSTRUCTION Filed July 2 1939 Patented June 30, 1942 UNI T-E D STATES PATENT F:l:" I(I E a 2,2ss,10s-= Y a MATTRESSICONSTRUGTIQNY David Micon', Los Angel'e's,"Calif. Application July. 28-, 1939, :Serial No; cat0311- 4 Claims. (01.5356l This invention relates to theconstruction of mattresses, upholstered furniture-and the like, in which a padding material is covered by a fabric, and the fabric is anchored" at points intermediate its' edges.

A broad object of the invention is to provide a mattress and upholstery construction which is inexpensive and practicable, and at the same time provides for the anchoring of the cover material intermediate its edges without the use of tufts or buttons on the exterior surface of the fabric and without the production of" holes in the fabric.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a fabric for use in covering mattresses, upholstering furniture," etc., which fabric-has anchor threads formed; thereinby-which the fabric may beanchored intrmediateits-edges without extending tie cords through the fabric, and without the use of tufts, buttons or" other projecting objects on'the exposed surface of the fabric. y

In mattresses and upholstered furniture it is necessary to connect the facing or covering material either to the'cover material on-the-opposite side, in the case of mattresses, or to a'base framework in the case of upholstered furniture, in order to retain the cover in'place', compress the filling material, and'prevent it from shifting. Cords are commonly employed as the connecting medium and in the usual construction are extended through the cover material, being either looped around a small'portion of the-cover material or knotted orsecured to a button, or the like, to prevent the cord pulling through the cover material. V p v As pointed out in my prior Patent No. 1,771,185 issued July 22, 1930, constructions in which the tie cord extends through the-cover -material are objectionable because; it necessarily involves forming openings in the cover which tend to become larger in use and permit entry of dirt and vermin into the interior of the rriattress; In accordance with the teachings of my prior patent, suchholes are eliminated by-sewing anchor loops to the inner surface of the cover material, the tie cords engaging the loops instead'ofpassing through the fabric.

The practice covered in myv patent referredto has great advantages over the'prior known prac-: tices but has thedisadvantage that the sewing of the anchor loops to thecover material involves additional operations and expense to the mattress maker or upholsterer.

In accordance with the present invention, I

avoid the aforementioned defect of the process of my -prior patent,iwhile retaining allthe: advantagesthereofpand aththe sametime obtain additional""advantages, by providingv a. woven cover material having. loops. formed in special anchor-threads of thefabric during therweaving thereof;

The invention will be more fully explained by describing in: detail :the particular fabric in accordance"therewith: and itsaapplication to a mattress: the description referring. to the drawing in' -which' Fig. 1 is a-VieW-of' a section of fabric in accordance with the inventionshowing' theright; or outer; side of the material;-

a Fig. 2 isa view similarflto Fig; 1, but: showing the inner,'-or:wrong", side of the material; a

- Fig; 3 is a'detail view, showing "aportion of the underside of the' fabric, greatly enlarged; I

Fig. 4 is a detail'sectional viewgtaken substantially in the-plane IV-IV of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5' is' a" detail sectional view'through a mattresscover'ed'with a covering in accordance with the invention, and showing how the covering on the two sides of the mattress are tied'together.

I Referring "to Figs; l, 2 'and 3, the woven fabric therein depicted consists of -'a cloth made up of warpand woof threads having special or extra threads l0 extending in one direction of the fabric-parallel toeach other and. in spaced apart relation. These -threads IO'are interwoven with some,- 'but not al1,'of the threads forming the cloth itself 'so that they lie-substantially on the rear side of the fabric and are invisible from the front, orright; side. The particular fabric shown consists of'warp threads" ll extending parallel to the :threads I0 and weft threads 12 extending at right; angles thereto. Therefore the special threads l0 extending in thedirection of the warp are, interengaged by occasional weft threads l2.

In the particular construction shown, the threads I!) are 'en'gaged'by'approximately every sixth weft thread 12. As a result of the fact that each of the threads H] is preferably relatively heavy-and is; engaged, by only a fraction of the weft threads; it extends as a ridge along the rear surface of the fabric and is substantially invisible from the front side of the fabric;

fhe thread III, as previouslyindicated, is preferably relatively heavy in order to withstand the strains to which it is subjected, and in the particularconstruction'shown is formed from a large number of smalleri threads or' ,laminations l3 which are simply bunched'together and arenot twisted. However, if desired, the thread I!) could consist of a single cord or a large cord twisted from a large number of smaller cords.

At periodic intervals along the threads l0, slack is interposed therein to form loops l4 extending outwardly from the rear surface of the fabric. The loops M in the different threads ID will ordinarily be spaced symmetricallyso that they fall in rows extending both longitudinally and laterally of the fabric although this is not essential and sometimes it may be desirable to position the loops [4 differently along the different threads if! so as to define special desired patterns.

As previously indicated, the loops l4 function to interconnect the fabric to tie cords and transmit the strain imposed by the tie cord to the fabric. Thus, as shown in Fig. 5, a portion of a mattress having an upper cover l6 and a lower cover [1, separated by filler material [8, are interconnected by tie cords l9 which are.con nected to the loops l4 formed in the cover material.

In order to firmly attach the threads Ill to the fabric, I find it advisable to employ additional threads 20 which extend at right angles to the threads 10 and parallel to the weft of the fabric, there being two of these threads 20 crossing the threads If! adjacent the loops [4 therein. Thus, as best shown in Fig. 3, one of the threads 20 extends on one side of the loop l4 and the other thread 20 extends on the other side of the loop M, the thread 20 in all instances extending across the threads l so as to restrain the threads ID from pulling away from the fabric when force is applied to the loops M. The threads 20 are connected to the fabric'by being interwoven with a relatively small number of warp threads, whereby, like the threads ridges along the rear face of the fabric and are substantially invisible frorn'the right side of the fabric. In the particular construction shown, the threads 20 are engaged by approximately every sixth warp thread so that they are supported to substantially the same extent as are the threads ll].

As shown in the drawing, each thread 20 consists of two smaller filaments or threads lying parallel and untwisted. However these threads 29 may consist of single heavy twisted threads in some instances.

The fabric described is not only admirably suited to the purpose of the mattress-maker or upholsterer, but can be readily manufactured in present weaving establishments at relatively small expense over the plain fabrics which have no provision for anchoring the tie cords.

Although for the purpose of explaining the invention a specific embodiment thereof has been described in detail, it is to be understood that many changes can be made from the particular fabric disclosed without departing from the invention which is to be limited only to the extent set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A device of the type described comprising padding material having a cover fabric in overlying relation thereto and anchoring means in underlying relation thereto, an anchoring element incorporated in said cover fabric, and a tie cord interconnecting said anchoring means and said anchoring element, in which said anchoring element comprises: a textile loop woven into and forming an integral part of said cover and extending from the underside thereof, the two sides of said loop entering said cover fabric Ill, they extend as at points so closely spaced to each other that there is negligible bulging of said cover between said points in response to strain on said loop.

2. A device as described in claim 1, in which said cover fabric is composed of two sets of threads, one constituting a regular warp and the other a regular woof of the fabric, in which each thread of one set interengages substantially all the other threads of the other set, with additional anchoring threads extending parallel to the threads of one of said sets, but interengaging only a fraction of the threads of the other of said sets and being distributed substantially on one side only of the fabric, said anchoring threads having a slack portion therein defining an anchor loop on one side of the fabric, said anchor loop constituting such special anchoring element.

3. A device as described in claim 1, having a plurality of anchoring elements, and in which said cover fabric consists of a woven fabric composed of two sets of threads, one constituting the regular warp and the other the regular Woof of the fabric, each thread of one set interengaging substantially every thread of the other set, and additional anchor threads including a first auxiliary set of threads extending parallel to the threads of one of said first mentioned sets but interengaging only a fraction of the threads of the other of said first mentioned set and being distributed substantially entirely on one side only of the fabric, said first auxiliary threads having slack portions therein at intervals therealong defining anchoring loops, and a second set of auxiliary threads disposed in pairs close together and the two threads of each pair bridging each thread of said first auxiliary set at each end of each of the said loops therein, said second auxiliary threads interengaging only a fraction of the threads of one of said first mentioned sets of threads and being distributed substantially entirely on one side only of the fabric, said anchoring loops constituting said special anchoring elements.

4. A device as described in claim 1, having a plurality of anchoring elements, and in which said cover fabric consists of a woven fabric composed of two sets of threads, one constituting the regular warp and the other the regular woof of the fabric, each thread of one set interengaging substantially every thread of the other set, and additional anchor threads including a first auxiliary set of threads extending parallel to the threads of one of said first mentioned sets but interengaging only a fraction of the threads of the other of said first mentioned set and being distributed substantially entirely on one side only of the fabric, said first auxiliary threads having slack portions therein at intervals therealong defining anchoring loops, and a second set of auxiliary threads disposed in pairs close together and the two threads of each pair bridging each thread of said first auxiliary set at each end of each of the said loops therein, said second auxiliary threads interengaging only a fraction of the threads of one of said first mentioned sets of threads and being distributed substantially entirely on one side only of the fabric, said anchoring loops constituting said special anchoring elements, and said first auxiliary threads being substantially heavier and stronger than the regular warp and woof threads of the fabric.

DAVID MICON. 

